


Book 1 - Rescued

by MikaielaFranqui



Series: The Life That Should Have Been Lived [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dead People Come Back to Life, F/M, Major canon divergence, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, This Is STUPID, death reversal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-24 15:51:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19726822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikaielaFranqui/pseuds/MikaielaFranqui
Summary: Set one year before Harry starts Hogwarts (Year 1990)





	Book 1 - Rescued

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MikaielaFranqui](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikaielaFranqui/gifts).



**30 July 1990**

Minerva McGonagall frowned at the silver phoenix Patronus that flew into her quarters, drawing her robe over her more comfortably as she turned expectantly to the bird. 

"Severus is unavailable. Please check on Harry." The message was more than enough to erase her sour mood at being interrupted during the summer holidays, and she had swung out of the bed even before the Patronus had vaporized completely.

It had been nine years since she had laid eyes on the child she considered a grandson, and the Headmaster had always insisted that Snape should be the one to check on him. She had known Snape as a student, and had only acquiesced to the insistence because she had witnessed how deeply Snape loved Lily, and how tragically his unrequited love had been put to an end. And yet, she couldn't deny that she was inexplicably happy that Severus couldn't go this time.

Within a matter of minutes, she had changed into a prim Muggle suit, though with a longer skirt and flat shoes, and Apparated to Little Whinging, Surrey. Once there, even though it was the middle of the night, she went down the street to Number 4, where she stared at the normal two-story building that didn't look a day different than it was nine years ago. Hauling in her breath, she knocked sharply on the door. There was no response, so after a few moments, she knocked again, far more insistently. 

"Who the ruddy hell is it?" The fat whale of a man seemed to fill the entire doorway as the door flew open, pudgy hands rubbing the sleep out of his eyes irritably. 

"I'm here to meet a Mr. Harry Potter," she said, completely ignoring his question, nose flaring with distaste at his discourteous manner.

"There is no Harry Potter here!" he shouted, making to slam the door in her face, but in the very same second, she had her wand at the exact point midway between his eyes, her jade eyes cat-like slits as they narrowed at the Muggle.

"I was witness to the night Albus Dumbledore left him in your care, and if you do not direct him to me this instant, you will be very sorry indeed," she said, all in one calm breath. 

No matter how dimwitted the man was, he could tell that this woman was not one to deal with any nonsense, so he stepped back, allowing her into the pristine hallway, which she entered with a disdainful sniff. Once inside, the whale of a man gestured vaguely in the direction of the stairs, and saying "You'll find him there", disappeared into a bedroom.

Minerva would very well have given the man a complete lecture on what courtesy to guests meant, and she was definitely going to give Albus a piece of her mind for leaving her honorary grandson - James and Lily's son! - to be brought up under the influence of such people, but she swallowed it back for now, deciding to focus on Harry first.

"Lumos." The tip of her wand illuminated the way for her to navigate through the narrow hallway, past the deserted kitchen and dining room, but that led only to a back door, so she headed back to the stairs. Once she had ascertained that the only person upstairs was only Dudley, she came back down, prepared to leave and report to Dumbledore that the boy wasn't where he had left him, when a soft whimper from close by caught her attention. She highly doubted that any of the Dursleys would be the source of the sound, and she was sure that they had no pets, so she went back towards the stairs, and noticed, for the first time, the dull brass knob sticking out from the wall of the stairway.

Anger boiled in her, her hands shook with fury as she slid open the several deadbolts using the key hanging off a hook next to the door, and tears sprang to her dark green eyes as the door swung open with a soft creak. A small figure jumped at the noise, and almost instantly slid sideways off the ragged mat inside, backing up towards the far wall.

Brilliant emerald orbs stared out at her through a mess of black hair, bright with tears as the boy twitched, forcing himself not to nurse the several bruises littering his body. Despite his condition, Minerva's eyes couldn't help but stray to his surroundings. This was nothing more than a broom cupboard, but given the neatly folded pile of over-sized clothes in one corner, a pair of worn shoes next to them and the ragged mattress on which there was nothing more than a thin, hard pillow and a dirty blue baby blanket that Minerva recognized as the one he was wrapped in when Hagrid had flown him here, nine years ago, she was sure that this was where the little boy lived.

"Harry," she said softly, her features softening as she approached the child. "Come with me, I'm getting you out of here."

All of a sudden, she was on alert. Her inner animal was, after all, a Splintercat, and contrary to popular belief, these legendary magical creatures did not chase after mere raccoons or bees. They chased people with animal forms who were a threat to humanity, and were enabled to do this by an innate sixth sense that could not be mistaken for anything else. Her eyes swept the room once again, and she caught sight of a rat in the doorway. Without making it seem like she had so much as noticed the creature, she eyed it closely, and noticed that though it appeared brown, the fur on top of its head was seemed to be colorless, and even for a rat, its eyes were remarkably tiny. What piqued her interest was the missing index toe on its right front foot. That was not a toe that normally got injured, it was usually the great or little toes that got cut off in traps. The Animagus was still unaware that she had recognized it to be anything but a normal rat. 

Quick as a flash, she had cast the Untransfiguration Charm, followed not a full second later by the Disarming Charm, before her mouth fell open at the sight in front of her.

For there stood a student she had always thought as inferior to the man she had believed he was murdered by, a student due to whom she had spent months cursing herself for not recognizing his hidden potential, a student she had never thought would belong in Gryffindor, a student she had mourned, a student she had believed dead at the hands of another student who she had dearly loved, even though she had never actually admitted it aloud.

"Pettigrew." The word fell from her lips in complete disbelief, but almost instantly, her jade eyes hardened, stormed even. "You were the one who betrayed them. It was never Sirius. Dear Merlin, he - you - I was right all along. You couldn't possibly belong in Gryffindor. You never deserved to keep the company of people so good. And you would be here now for him, wouldn't you? You got his parents killed nine years ago, and for some reason, you came back to finish the job, to kill him as well. Not on my watch."

She raised her wand again, but he had already anticipated that and had rushed out of the house, disappearing into the dark streets. Unarmed, she knew it would not take long to find him, but she currently had another matter to attend to. Turning back, she found Harry staring at her in trepidation and curiosity.

"Come along, Harry." She had had her doubts all along, ever since Dumbledore forcefully got the child placed in the care of the Muggles, but now she wasn't she trusted the old Headmaster at all. It wasn't beneath him to play his own games, after all, but he wasn't going to have her cooperation in it anymore.


End file.
